Golden State Warriors' Andre Iguodala dunks the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers' Tristan Thompson, left, from Canada, and Anderson Varejao, from Brazil, watch during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013, in Cleveland. less

Golden State Warriors' Andre Iguodala dunks the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers' Tristan Thompson, left, from Canada, and Anderson Varejao, from Brazil, watch during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, ... more

Photo: Tony Dejak, AP

Warriors rally from big deficit to win in Cleveland

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Cleveland --

If the first game of an extended road trip really does set the tone for an entire roadie, we're in for quite a bit of drama over the next six games.

The Warriors had to erase a 17-point deficit in the final 25 minutes of Sunday's game and a nine-point deficit in the final 16 1/2 minutes merely to create a back-and-forth affair that went to overtime.

After keeping his team alive during an otherwise sloppy first half, Stephen Curry closed out the 108-104 victory over Cleveland with a 23-footer with 13.5 seconds left in overtime.

"This was very critical," said Warriors forward Draymond Green, who had career highs with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. "It decides how we go into our next matchup and the rest of the trip. Now, we've started out on the right foot and have some momentum."

Harrison Barnes made a layup that stopped the Warriors' 0-for-5 dry spell and tied it 104-104 with 1:55 remaining in overtime. After Andre Iguodala blocked Kyrie Irving's layup attempt at the other end, the Warriors' swingman raced ahead and found Green for a dunk and a 106-104 lead with 59.7 left.

Until that point, Irving seemingly had an answer for everything the Warriors did. Iguodala put the Warriors up 94-90 with 3:44 left in regulation, and David Lee gave them a 96-92 advantage with three minutes remaining. After each Warriors bucket, Irving drained a jumper to trim the deficit back to two points, including an 18-footer with 2:43 left that made it 96-94.

Irving finally missed a tough reverse layup attempt, but Tristan Thompson was able to tip in the game-tying bucket with two minutes remaining. After missed jumpers on both ends, Green made a three-pointer with 1:05 left to put the Warriors ahead 99-96. Once again, Irving answered with a game-tying three-pointer with 9.5 seconds on the clock after the Warriors failed to fulfill their coach's instruction to foul before the shot.

"I'm not a coach who puts anybody on blast, but we were locked and loaded to commit a foul," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. "Mistakes were made. It happens. But I told them in the huddle, 'Let it go. We're good enough to win this game twice.' "

The Warriors (19-13) already had comebacks from 27 and 28 points this season, but erasing a 17-point deficit against Cleveland gave them a season-best five-game win streak and showed persistence to open a season-long, seven-game, 13-day trip.

Playing with only 10 healthy men in uniform, the Warriors got 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds from Curry, 19 points from Lee and 16 from Klay Thompson. Andrew Bogut added 12 points on his 20th consecutive game of shooting at least 50 percent from the floor, and Iguodala filled the stat sheet with eight points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

"He takes over games for us for two-, three- or four-minute periods," Bogut said of Curry, who scored 24 points on 8-for-11 first-half shooting while his teammates connected on 35.3 percent of their shots. "He just goes into video-game mode and 'bang, bang, bang,' we're back in the game. He can be 3-for-15, and all of a sudden, he hits his next seven shots."

Cleveland head coach Mike Brown left C.J. Miles in the game with two early fouls, and the shooting guard scored seven points during a 23-4 run that put Cleveland ahead 30-18 with 4:50 left in the first quarter. Just more than 16 minutes into the game, the Warriors had been whistled for 14 fouls and had committed seven turnovers as Cleveland extended its lead to 44-29.

After being held scoreless in the first half, Lee finally got a field goal to fall with 7:36 remaining in the third quarter as the Warriors trimmed the Cavaliers' lead to 69-66. He scored 11 points in the third quarter, including a sweeping hook that cut the Warriors' deficit to 82-80 with 2:08 left.

Big-man rotation: The Warriors waived reserve center Hilton Armstrong, who averaged 0.9 of a point and 2.3 rebounds in seven games, and are expected to recall rookie Ognjen Kuzmic, who had right hand surgery Nov. 26, from Santa Cruz of the NBA Development League.

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